11 Most Influential Science Fiction Films (chronologically ordered)
Submitted by hitchnoir on Mon, 03/08/2004 - 02:23
Tags:
- Le Voyage Dans La Lune (Georges Méliès, 1902)
- Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927)
- Things to Come (William Cameron Menzies, 1936)
- The Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise, 1951)
- The Thing From Another World (Christian Nyby, 1951)
- Forbidden Planet (Fred M. Wilcox, 1956)
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956)
- The Incredible Shrinking Man (Jack Arnold, 1957)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
- Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977)
- Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
Author Comments:
Above is what I have come to deem, after years of research, the ten most influential science fiction films ever made. Please post any all and thoughts on this for discussion.
Very good list!
I would have to consider Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Forbidden Planet, the first Terminator (though I like the second better, the first was more influential), Alien, and, I suspect in the future, The Matrix.
You've done a great job here!
L. Bangs
Although the some of the films you mentioned are indeed great works in their own right, I don't think they can be included. Others can, however. Alien (1979), for all of its ingenuity, was in essence a re-hashing of older, better films. The Matrix (1999) is simply to young to be considered a seminal work. On the other side of the coin, not including Forbidden Planet (1956) was perhaps a mistake. The Terminator (1984) and Close Encounters (1977) I shall have to think over.
I'm not saying you are in this group but I know that some people bandy the phrase "most influential" about when referring to the best films in a genre. But of course you could have so-so movies which are very influential. Since you've clearly given this a lot of thought I'd be interested in your thoughts regarding where the influence of the listed movies is apparent. I'm not challenging your list at all I'm just interested on the perspective of your research, i.e. why you chose these 10 films.
In composing the list, I boiled down all of the science-fiction sub-genres, and, after weighing out which themes and concepts were most historically important, tried to pinpoint the first films to introduced those elements, i.e., the concept that extra-terrestrial life may be benefic (The Day the Earth Stood Still), a great advance in special effects (Metropolis), the emergence of undertones of communist paranoia (The Thing), etc.
I'd have to think further on it (and you may have already considered these) but some intial titles I'd throw in the ring are The Lost World (1925) and Forbidden Planet (1956).
As I said above, not including Forbidden Planet (1956) was a mistake, but I believe The Lost World (1925) owes itself more to the realm of fantasy/monster saga films, inspiring such works as King Kong (1933) and Godzilla (1955).
This is a very worthwhile list, but its value would be greatly increased, I suggest, by the addition of examples of influence. In the case of FORBIDDEN PLANET, for instance, the influence on STAR TREK seems very likely (admittedly I can cite no documentary evidence for this claim).
I am in agreement with you on this. A list of the actual influences would be quite welcome. That's what I was trying to say in my above comment but I don't know if I explained it well enough.
I would like to hear thoughts on whether or not I should include Planet of the Apes (1968) and/or Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).
Very good list.
There is a large representation of what could be called "communist paranoia" sci-fi.
I would like to see Solaris (72) on your list. It is one of the very few metaphysical Sci-fi films.
Close Encounters is one of my favorite films because of it's un-wavering naive quality. The theatre version was better than the director's cut. Close Encounters has the friendliest abduction scene ever.
I think E.T. should be more prominent than Close Encounters as it's a true original in cinema and was astonishing way back in 82.
Planet Of The Apes is silly fun. It always reminds me of an Elvis movie. The final scene is a hoot.